We contemplated our options. One ecstasy pill, check. Two 20-year-old women looking to party, check. Location was the hard part — where can you party your brains out and act like an idiot without getting …

Princess Neck Snap I hear a lot of talk from prospective urban parents about the internal struggle that they go through when deciding to have kids. Usually, this gets framed as either "we're moving to …

"The Roman Catholic Church has a history of changing its position on issues. It just takes a long time. Look at the church's stance on Galileo. It took them hundreds of years to finally apologize …

It's all in the DJ and what he/she chooses to spin, right? Downtown's On Broadway has a regular duo with an eclectic collection: Morgan Young and Wendy call themselves the Vagabond DJs. The ambience? "A …

On June 13, a jury found Samuel Horn guilty of the August 7, 2004, murder of Paulette Valenzuela, singer of hard rock/metal band the Abuse. Last month, the judge sentenced the 22-year-old to life in …

"I was just interviewed for a biography on Green Day," says drummer Chris Coté. His band, Kut-U-Up, spent the summer of 2002 opening every show of the Green Day/blink-182 U.S. tour. Kut-U-Up was the focus …

"She had no idea it was coming." That's what one insider says about the firing of 91X DJ Robin Roth, who's known for her black wardrobe and fondness for Goth artists such as Bauhaus and …

While drinking after a show in Europe last year, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and Blood Brother vocalist Jordan Blilie decided to start a thrash band. They drunk-dialed mutual friend and Locust bassist Justin …

When I moved to Ocean Beach two years ago, a friend told me, "There's a stripper bar a few blocks down. I've never checked it out." He was talking about Dream Street, and when I …

Chicago-born Fifth (a.k.a. Derrick Stanton) moved to San Diego with his family a decade ago, settling in El Cajon and then Spring Valley. The 19-year-old rapper/producer is the latest addition to rap crew Digital Underground. …

"Some fans who've followed me for years thought it was weird, having Slash on the record and in the video [for 'Street Child']," says Elan of her last album's guest guitarist. "But I grew up …

It's fun to be a woman. It's fun to flirt and wear makeup and have boobs. -- Eva Mendes 'I can feel my pores tightening from the mist." "She was paid to say that," I …

"Ain't nobody listening," says KPBS (89.5 FM) general manager Doug Myrland about the cancellation of Sounds Eclectic. The modern music program lasted a year. (The final show airs between 4 and 6 p.m. on Sunday.) …

When Coldplay hit Coors Amphitheatre tomorrow, August 26, they expect their dressing room to be stocked with a bottle of vodka, two bottles of red wine, two bottles of dry white wine ("cold...not Chardonnay"), 48 …

"I can't believe you guys brought a TV and VCR," I announced to the group of blue overalls sitting in the torpedo room. "You know what I brought? I brought some books and CDs. I …

The Trudeau Vector by Juris Jurjevics. Viking, 2005; 402 pages; $24.95. FROM THE DUST JACKET: As the international team of scientists at the spectacular Trudeau Research Center prepares for six months of unrelenting Arctic winter, …

When Escondido resident Le Ly Hayslip learned that the California State Assembly planned a May 9 award to honor her work, she got ready to celebrate. "My birthday is May 10," she says, "and I …

Economists say that when you tax something, you get less of it. When you subsidize something, you get more of it. San Diego County is on the fast track to subsidizing cannibalism. A proposed Chula …

Another Boston trader anchored in the bay? That’s four in the last three years. What is this, a plague? And the captain will need wood, provisions. Or his ship may have sprung a leak and …

“So the clocks are crazy, too. They’re saying any time is coffee time.”

The 12-mile, one-way hiking traverse from the Laguna Mountains to Cuyamaca Rancho State Park isn't what it used to be, on account of the October 2003 Cedar Fire. Still, it's nice to see the recovery …

"I 'm so cheap," moaned my dear friend Kathleen, who has been nursing for ten years. "I wear whatever scrubs I can find in a thrift store, usually the classic grey-green or dark blue. Once, …

Puerto La Boca is a lively, cosmopolitan restaurant serving the most authentic Argentine cooking in the San Diego area. On any given night, about 70 percent of the tables are occupied by well-educated South American …

'Now, let's talk about derailleur adjustments," says a male ectomorph I'll call Henry. Henry uses the airline-stewardess "happy-to-serve-you-and-I'd-like-to-watch-you-die" dialect for public discourse. He is employed as a bicycle repairman, which is a job title from …

'A lot of people call it 'fake.' It's fixed, but it's not fake. A slap in the face is a slap in the face, and if I tell you it's going to come, it still …

“My background is on the front lines. I’ve had no formal training, but I’ve done a lot of tasting.”

I met Sarah at a party last year. She sings with the Small Opera of San Diego. The voice that comes out of her petite frame sounds as if it should come from a 400-pound …

We have reached the tail end of the Dog Days, where my choices seem to be either to do one or more of The Brothers Grimm, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, …

Matthew Alice: In Mission Bay sits an island with what looks like a large bowling pin on it. Another sits on the west side of I-5 north of Oceanside. I want to know what these …

Dear Matthew Alice: How did the traditions of using red lights for stop and green lights for go start? It seems pretty arbitrary to me. But I'm sure there's some weird logic behind it. And …

Matt: I just got back from a visit to Miami. When I was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean I could swear that the water there was saltier than it is off San Diego's Coast. True …

Thirty Years Ago In the San Diego area, the two best-selling imported beers are Heineken and Dos Equis. Dos Equis became a best seller only in the last year or two. While Dos Equis has …

“He say goodbye to his wife, he say goodbye to his friends, he say goodbye to his children. He say, ‘Long Live Anarchy!’”

This morning, as we were getting ready to go to the Farmer's Market, I threw a T-shirt and shorts on to my unshowered body. The Bee, in her ineffable way, was dressed to the nines …

"Today's passage tells us about a slave girl that was pimped twice over. She was being pimped by her master and she was being pimped by Satan," said Pastor Andrea King. King's sermon, The Art …

On July 25, Jim Morrison's parents won their lawsuit against Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek; a permanent injunction prohibits the two former Doors members from using the name that made them famous. Octogenarians George and …

Aaron Sherman plays guitar in Guerilla Transammo and works part-time as a stagehand at the House of Blues. He recently took up the offer to go on a ten-date, 16-city tour with the Von Bondies. …

"I Insult Women, homosexuals, and drug addicts...especially tweakers. They are at the low end of the food chain," says Mike Hood, who admits he's a recovering addict. After playing guitar for years with the Shot …

The Nortec Collective's new disc, Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3, recently edged out such platinum acts as Enrique Iglesias and Shakira to reach number one on the iTunes Latin Albums chart. Robert Mendoza (known as Panoptica) …

San Diego crooner Frankie J's next single will be a remake of Extreme's 1991 ballad "More Than Words." "I don't think anyone's ever done it in Spanish before," says the 24-year-old. "I'll be doing an …

Peter Sprague was eight when his family moved from Cleveland to Del Mar, where surfing and music became, as he puts it, his "life and religion." Peter continues, "Though I hate to admit it, I …

It Was 40 Years Ago Today (almost) when Helen Halmay interviewed the Beatles before their only San Diego concert (August 28, 1965, at Balboa Stadium). Halmay, who was 20 at the time, says she has …

Fifteen years ago tomorrow (8/19/90), Nirvana played the year-old Casbah. This gig (a year before the release of Nevermind) has appeared on two bootlegs. The first to surface featured only 46 minutes of the band's …

When Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers play Coors Amphitheatre on Saturday, August 20, the band hospitality suite should be stocked with a six-pack of Budweiser ("long necks"), a six-pack of Corona, two quarts of Knudsen …

We need objects to remind us of the commitments we've made. That carpet from Morocco reminds us of the impulsive, freedom-loving side of ourselves we're in danger of losing touch with. Beautiful furniture gives us …

“You’d pay $13, $14 at other places for what you get here for $8.61, including the tax.”

"Ugh," I say and roll my eyes. "Change it." "What are you talking about?" Joe, my cousin asks, incredulous. "That's Metallica." "I know it's Metallica. They suck. Change it." "Metallica rocks," he says and throws …

This is a tale of an author and an alchemist. One writes books about corporate governance, and the other says he can make mercury into gold. That's a feat that alchemists and assorted mystics of …

In 1980, the city of Escondido stood on the verge of a decade of explosive growth. Within ten years, the town of 30,000 would become a city of 120,000. And on a ten-acre ranch outside …

Late last summer, the New York City-based Library Journal named then-San Diego mayor Dick Murphy the 2004 "Politician of the Year." What attracted his editors' attention, the magazine's editor in chief, John N. Berry III, …

A Mouth Like Yours by Daniel Duane. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005; 195 pages; $24. FROM THE DUST JACKET: A brutally honest novel about love and illusion from the author of Caught Inside. Cassius Harper, …

Harbor House Shiver me timbers, the "tall ships" are here this week for the Festival of Sail (August 17--21), a treat for residents and visitors alike. Twenty vessels are plying the bounding main (well, the …

Parsons Landing on Santa Catalina Island is not only the site of a small beach and a spacious camping area; it is also the home of one of the best examples of native Southern California …

My husband Patrick is a terrible book snob. Not a literary snob, mind you -- he'll read anything that catches his wandering attention, regardless of pedigree -- but a book snob. Most of the time, …

Here's what we know: (1) The Padres are in first place in the National League West. (2) The Padres have lost more games than they've won. Why is the NL West, in all of Major …

'The thing that convinced me that I should write the book on San Diego place names was the discovery of errors in earlier books on the subject," writes Leland Fetzer in the preface of his …

Last month, Norma and Joe of Rancho Bernardo had a luau-themed party for their dog's first birthday. I'm not sure if that meant dog years. I'm not sure the dog realized that this event was …

Movies reviewed this week: The Great Raid, Grizzly Man, Junebug, 9 Songs, Red Eye, and 2046

Dear Matthew Alice: Why do judges wear black robes? Do they come in different styles? What's the bill to the taxpayers so they can dress up? -- Quinn, the net Ma Alice has spent so …

Thirty Years Ago "I'll give you a dolla for the coat." My sidewalk saleswoman instinct is aroused and practically swallowing the stem from the grapes in outrage, I intone, "Look, lady, feel the material. Genuine …

“Merchant navigators” — a polite phrase for “smugglers” — William Shaler and Richard Cleveland agreed on almost everything. Both were New Englanders, born in 1773. Both went to sea as teenagers. Shaler, whose ancestor Thomas …

I'd press play on my older brother's boom box, and listen to the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA." The volume never passed two; I was terrified of discovery by my mother who had a ban on rock music.

My first favorite album was the original cast recording of Oklahoma. Mom says when I was a baby, she'd put on the record as she lay me down to sleep and by the second line …

Thirty Years Ago Jack Nicholson is heir apparent to the middle-age actor role vacated by the romantic comedians of black-and-white days, the epitome of the lawyer, doctor, journalist, or fugitive from the Mann Act. Jack …

Hellllooooooo San Diego, and welcome to my blog, Bumblebee Sweet Potato. The Bumblebee is my daughter, who's turning 6 in September. The Sweet Potato is my son, who's turning 2 next week. As to how …

Sergio Castro performed "spoken word" for a crowd estimated to be 170 people. "Worship is dangerous. Worship of God is forbidden in many parts of the world. Music reaches into the subconscious. Music is a …

"We would play four to five nights a week," says Warren Lovell, Big Time Operator band leader. During the years '97--'99, BTO played Croce's, the Cannibal Bar, and Tio Leo's. "A lot of the swing …

Thirty-one years ago today (8/11/74), Frank Zappa brought his Mothers of Invention to Golden Hall for a show immortalized on the bootleg LP Golden Debris. The audience was let in while the band performed a …

Megadeth Man and Fallbrook resident Dave Mustaine recently told KNAC's Philthy Phil that he won't perform certain songs now that he's embraced Christianity. "The ones that I did that I'm not doing anymore that to …

A former Marine lance corporal pleaded no contest July 28 to one felony count of lewd and lascivious acts against a child. Dario Ambriz, 23, was stationed at Camp Pendleton in 2004 when he met …

"I still want to talk to their agent," says Street Scene promoter Rob Hagey about why the Black Eyed Peas were an hour late for their appearance. "I want to know exactly what happened." What …

"I am told 'irie' means getting high and Stone Senses mean your senses are getting stoned," says Ofelia Escovedo, board of directors president of Carlsbad's annual Fiesta del Barrio. At a meeting last week, the …

Former Stone Temple Pilots Robert DeLeo (bass) and Dean DeLeo (guitar) have teamed with Filter front man Richard Patrick to form a still-unnamed band. In October 2001, Patrick joined STP onstage in Chicago to sing …

When Styx plays Viejas Casino Concerts in the Park on Saturday, August 13, expected munchies include a bag of assorted candy ("Snickers, Kit-Kat, Milky Way, etc."), a box of sourdough pretzels, a jar of soy …

'I dreamed I was playing onstage and I was really confused because the song I was playing didn't seem to be the same song the rest of the band was playing," says Kyrsten Hopkins, bass …

Before puberty, before a scalding flood of hormones seared my synapses and boiled my cerebellum, I was a smart kid. My parents blame the eventual change on a month spent in the mountains of Wyoming …

I'm a lousy housekeeper, and by the end of the week dishes are stacked on every available surface of my kitchen. The thought of cleaning them is overwhelming. So I've developed this ritual. I slip …

You could move. -- Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," in response to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to …

"So, what do you think?" That's my dad's standard phrase. The phrase he speaks when he doesn't have anything else to say. When silence pulls the room into its vacuum, "So, what do you think?" …

Around ten o'clock every morning, a prep cook strolls through the kitchen of a Mission Valley restaurant crying, "Red Bull. Red Bull. Red Bull." He collects $2 each from waiters, busboys, and cooks to buy …

Without question, nerds boost the local economy. But so do smerfs. Indeed, San Diego should post a sign on the outskirts: "Smerfs Welcome." Smerfs are notorious cheapskates, but their dollars are green. In the tourist …

Five years ago, criminal defense and civil rights attorney Mary Prévost began investigating how the City and County of San Diego conducted blood draws from people suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol. But …

For cyclists, skaters, walkers, and runners, the vast Mission Bay Park features something quite hard to find in our topographically wrinkled county: dead-flat terrain. Now that fine new or refurbished concrete sidewalks snake around South …

Living Room by Geoff Bouvier. Copper Canyon Press, 2005; 96 pages; $14. FROM THE DUST JACKET: "Readers may be voyeurs, but the subtler gifts are not for the fast glancers. Take a good slow second …

“There’s a group of us, We’ve got all the answers to the world’s problems, right here.”

"Where are people buying these decals?" After ten dead-end calls, Patrick slumped over the telephone, exhausted by his futile hunt. He was trying to buy stick-figure family decals for his sister's car. She has 13 …

'How did you come upon this?" Beth Shannon says, "My sister made a donation in my name." We're talking about Old Friends, a Kentucky nonprofit "dedicated to providing a dignified retirement to old champions." Old …

'The idea is to bridge the world of art and science," says Wyland, an artist, author, and educator who goes by one name. The artist's role in conservation is even bigger than his life-size murals …

The movie Wedding Crashers became number one at the box office after playing in theaters for several weeks. The word-of-mouth on this movie has made it a hit. Vince Vaughn is hysterical. (Swingers, a 1996 …

“The things that inspire me? There are some truly crazy, crazy people out there.”

Ortega seems to be a common name for San Diego restaurateurs. There are four Ortega's restaurants around town, each independently owned. The newest is part of a loosely connected chain run by a member of …

Movies reviewed this week: Four Brothers, The Aristocrats, King of the Corner, Last Days, The Devil's Rejects and The Dukes of Hazzard

Dear Matt: I was wondering. If a set of identical twins married another set of identical twins, and each couple had a child, would the two children be identical? -- Ag, the net UCSD's medical …

Heymatt: How come during rush hour the slow lanes are faster than the fast lanes? -- Y.F., the net First of all, because the fast lane is fast in name only. In a finely tuned …

My hand paused before the mascara reached my lashes and I inhaled deeply — it was almost time. The mounting passion in her voice, off-key yet somehow harmonizing with the piano's crescendo, jerked me to …

Artur Schnabel Plays Beethoven, Volume 1 Sonata no. 19 in G Minor, op. 49, no. 1 My father bought my first piano from the Briscoes in Sumter, South Carolina. We knew the Briscoes from church …

James Taylor was the soundtrack for my adolescence. I would sit in the living room and play his records over and over on our big console while I tried to imagine what anyone would ever …

What one album would I take with me to a desert island? Immediately, it occurs to me that perhaps I shouldn't take any music with me at all. I'd have my untainted memory of other …

In 1991, God seized my attention. So did Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and U2. I was 20, a freshman in college, raised Catholic but without much understanding or interest in practicing my faith. I had plenty …

"If you like Hendrix, you'll like this," my guitar teacher said, handing me a cassette of the Psychedelic Furs' second album, Talk Talk Talk. More than 20 years later, I have no idea what he …

Though I had anticipated its arrival, I dreaded this day. The exact hour when the desire to experience something thrilling had effervesced within me for so long, it expired. Cognitive reservoirs of gumption, drive, purposefulness …

"Dancing in September" wept from the doorway of a music shop. I pulled my scarf and jacket collar open, exposing my neck and ear. I stayed on that street for the day. I wanted to …

In the age of the iPod, I can't imagine not bringing a music mix with me to the proverbial desert island. In fact, it goes further back than the iPod. I grew up in the …

This is a weighty matter, or would be if there was the slightest possibility that it might actually happen. In my case it's complicated by the fact that I'm older than dirt, and have more …

RE: the rock and roll album and unfurnished island situation. I'm going to have a problem packing my rucksack. The fact is, I don't have a relationship with music, although at one time in my …

My life changed forever when I was 13 years old. Up until this time, my thoughts were filled with jumping my BMX bike off curbs and lighting things on fire in my back yard. This …

I was grounded, which was a worse proposition than it sounded in my house. I was 14. It was 1965. My father's decree, he knew not to what he was consigning me. A summer in …

It was the stuff we did in high school band class that eventually told how my life would play out. It's hard to imagine any public school music class as being influential, but this was …

I've been sleeping on a lumpy sofa for several days, and my back is on fire. The sofa isn't in my own house, a take-no-prisoners zone I return to only to collect fresh clothes, but …

Stranded on a desert island, I'd find relief from the blazing sun in the wintry imagery of Joni Mitchell's album Hejira. Just gazing at the black-and-white album cover would start cooling me down: Joni in …

When I was 12, most of my time was spent (a) being mad at absolutely everybody and everything, (b) writing furiously, or (c) being mad at absolutely everybody and everything and writing furiously at the …

"Like a Rolling Stone," the most famous song on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, portrays somebody who thought she was on top contending with her fall to the bottom. It's a fun song but not …

These days when you can download all sorts of music into an iPod and burn your own CDs, it's odd to think of taking one prerecorded CD to a desert island. But the spirit of …

It's not that I listen to it very often -- I don't think I've listened to it once in the past 15 years. Even if I owned a copy I wouldn't be able to play …

The summer of 1976, PBS broadcast The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard by Leonard Bernstein. Each week Bernstein explained the structure and the meaning of music as well as the crisis of harmony composers …

I met Joseph when I was 25 and he was 52, eight years younger than I am now. I shared my one-bedroom apartment on the Lower East Side in New York City with night-crawling cockroaches …

You and I both know what saved me: My son. A gorgeous Botticelli-in-diapers on the day his father left for good. The reason I am a single mother, Pablo, is that, over long swaths of time, there's a certain amount of grace in being a single mother. Something exquisite and beautiful, crammed with the experience of life and death itself.

Thirty Years Ago At the other extreme, you find the "modern country-western nightclub," like the Alamo in Clairemont. There's a bowling alley that runs the length of the hall, which advertises a special of three …

Meaty Reader My kids both love books, and one of the things that I look forward to most as a parent is introducing them to my favorite books. We've read to our kids for almost …

"It isn't often that you find a pastor who has been in prison and been divorced but has a real heart for people. He isn't judgmental at all. If you are struggling with sin, this …

'We've played in 64 countries on 6 continents," says Liquid Blue singer/songwriter Scott Stephens. "The Stones have played in 39." I take his word for it. The band does seem to be almost always abroad, …

Children make the most desirable opponents in Scrabble as they are both easy to beat and fun to cheat. -- Fran Lebowitz 'These are tough letters," I said, sliding my "Z" tile to the left …

It's a sorry state of affairs when your ace in the hole is a black hole: possible bankruptcy. That's the situation with the City of San Diego: its best defense against another pillaging by the …

When Michael Moore finally arrived at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on October 12 to rail against a second term for President Bush, he promised to devote the ticket proceeds to scholarships for the biggest hell-raisers …

Being hung over is a special treat. Last night I felt like I was made of golden light, all smiles and surrounded by fluffy pillows. This morning the harsh crash of trash cans in the …

The Mount Waterman Trail traverse across the north rim of the San Gabriel Wilderness provides almost constant views of statuesque pines, yawning chasms, and distant, hazy ridges. The rugged topography of the wilderness area is …

The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon by Donald Hall. Houghton Mifflin, 2005; 258 pages; $23. FROM THE DUST JACKET: Donald Hall's celebrated book of poems Without was written for his wife, …

'When I moved here from Boston years ago," says Elizabeth Huller-Eisemann, "I brought ten goldfish with me on the plane. Or rather, they were supposed to be in cargo. They actually missed the flight, and …

Before we move into football (the NFL preseason kicks off on Saturday), the Box would like to award its Sportsman of the Year trophy. Regulars will recall that the trophy is a handsome 18-inch-tall bronze …

In June I got a call about Patrick Henry High's grad-night event at Party Pals in Sorrento Valley, not far from where I live. I had three other parties to go to that night (tough …

'We call it a 'screens'l,' which is a contraction of 'screen' and 'sail.' It's kind of tongue in cheek because in the sailing world, things are slurred," says Pete Sharp, a member of the sail …

“What had I accomplished in a life as brief as the turn of a screw?”

Movies reviewed this week: Broken Flowers, Lila Says, Murderball, and November

Matt: Why is Canada so special? -- GZ, the net Lucky for us, Canadians seem to spend most of their free time answering survey questions. Maybe we can find some clues in statistics from public …

Heymatt: On the day of the tsunami, did the world population go up or down. I trust it didn't stay the same. -- Joel Fentin, the net Trust misplaced, Joel. The most recent total (estimated, …

Recent rumors of Michael Jackson sightings at Carlsbad's Chopra Center for Well Being are true. Deepak Chopra, who calls himself Jackson's "spiritual guru," wrote in the July 14 Delhi Times: "After the verdict clearing him …

"Oh, you mean Cheap Channel?" 91X morning DJ Chris Cantore joked on the air last month. A few years ago, nobody at the modern-rock station made on-air jokes about Clear Channel, the mega-chain that owns …

Longtime local guitarist Michael Goodrich Jr., who moved to Ketchum, Idaho, last year to play for Staggering Home, suffered third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body after falling into a bonfire pit on July …

Last week was not a good week for Diana Laird, the program director who oversees Clear Channel stations KHTS/Channel 9-3-3 (Top 40) and Z-90 (hip-hop hits). On Monday, July 25, it was announced that she …

Irradio, Yovee, and Operatic are out. Billy Daniels is incoming managing partner at what is now Martini Ranch in Encinitas. He says a new name and music policy are in store for the bar and …

Bruce Hornsby played Humphrey's on July 21. I caught up with him that afternoon and asked if there is anything he can do to keep his hit ("The Way It Is") from being played on …

"We figure we lose $300,000 to $400,000 a year [in profits]," says Patrick Glynn, owner of Wireless Flash news service. Based in Hillcrest, the Wireless Flash sends out at least nine weird-but-true stories daily to …

Ravi Shankar almost canceled a July 10 appearance in Arles, France, after two of his sitars were broken during an Air France flight from Lebanon. Shankar, an Encinitas resident since 1998, wouldn't play a replacement …

“Now I have you in my power. You will do everything I say, capeesh?

I set out to review a little ethnic "gem" this week, but when my partner and I both came down with food poisoning six hours after eating there, my tummy told me I needed a …